Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

[danfrompgh]

I recently changed tow vehicles from a full sized pickup to a new Ford Explorer. The tongue wt with the boat is approx 450lbs and total wt is 3800lbs. I have a single axle Escort trailer with 15in tires and surge brakes. With the pickup there was never a problem but I'm thinking the Explorer may need some fine tuning. I realize it won't take much to change the balance of things but is there an "ideal" tongue wt I might want with this new vehicle? The boats in storage till April and I got too much time to dream of boatin!
Thank goodness we still got Steeler football

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

as a rule of thumb 10% of trailer. if you go by this you will be in the ball park.
personaly i like more tongue weight than less.

 

[danfrompgh]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

10% sounds reasonable. If thats the case I may want to leave well enuf alone. The boat doesn't always load in the exact same spot so my changing the axle setup might end up like my dog chasin his tail.
He never quite gets it right !...thx for the #

 

[DJ]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

Actually, I think that's a bit on the heavy side, for a boat trailer tongue.

Is there any reason why the boat doesn't land in the same spot everytime?

I think I'd address that.

 

[Docknocker]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

MINIMUM 10%. Tongue weight effects your trailer axles' caster angle, particularly with a S/A trailer, which are way more sensitive than double or triple axle trailers. Too little tongue weight will produce dangerous trailer sway at higher speeds

 

[cdnfthree2]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

MINIMUM 10%. Tongue weight effects your trailer axles' caster angle, particularly with a S/A trailer, which are way more sensitive than double or triple axle trailers. Too little tongue weight will produce dangerous trailer sway at higher speeds

Agreed from experience!

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

dan; another thing you might want to consider is just moving your center post back if you do need to take a little weight off your hitch.
not seeing your trailer this may or may not work but most posts i have seen are bolted on and are easy to slide one way or the other

are you a steelers fan??

 

[DJ]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

dan; another thing you might want to consider is just moving your center post back if you do need to take a little weight off your hitch.
not seeing your trailer this may or may not work but most posts i have seen are bolted on and are easy to slide one way or the other

are you a steelers fan??

Correct.

But, I wouldn't do anything until I got the loading issues worked out.

 

[danfrompgh]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

The boat sometimes will be hanging off the bottom bunks maybe 2in,sometime it may slide beyond the bunk end by 2in. On a single axel this surely changes the trailers balance. The admirals a pretty good putteronner and because the launch ramp is sloped the way it is I don't always notice it till I'm in the lot and wipin her down(the boat not the admiral). I never thought of possibly moving the center post back to change the tongue wt. The more I think of it now I may need to do that because the spring shackles won't let the axle move. hmm..figurein it out as we speak. When I pull it out of the mine and tow her home I'll have a better idea
And to answer somebodys question"do I like the Steelers"? did ya notice my avatar and signature? duh...yeah!

 

[Docknocker]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

Another thing to consider besides tongue weight is your tongue angle, which will also effect your trailer axel's caster angle. Will the ball height on your new vehicle be the same as it was on your pickup? You need to find the correct balance between the two.

 

[danfrompgh]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

Ball height will be the same.I measured the truck before I turned it back in,the Explorer with the new up 1in will be the same--18in.

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: Moving trailer axle to lighten tongue wt

dan; ya i saw your towel. so i lhad to throw that in.
one thing i have found with my single axle trailers. as doc just brought up is the tongue angle. i would add, and this comes from personal experience, if you cant have your trailer setting level than a tongue high attitude works better than tongue low.
the explorer might be softer sprung so you might need taller hitch to get your hight with the trailer weight on it.
good luck to you and your team in the SB.